Travelling around Europe dressed as a man ... Great Garbo in Queen Christina. Photograph: Kobal

Director: Rouben MamoulianEntertainment grade: A–History grade: B+

Christina Vasa became king (not queen) of Sweden at the age of five in 1632. She was brought up as a boy and became a noted intellectual, debating with René Descartes and inspiring a resurgence in the arts. Her efforts as an administrator were less impressive. By 1654, she was fed up with her government, and it was fed up with her. She abdicated, converted to Catholicism, and spent the rest of her life travelling around Europe dressed as a man.

War

It's 1632, and Sweden is caught up in the thirty years war. On the battlefield at Lützen, King Gustavus Adolphus is expiring in a ditch. He looks exactly like his portrait, down to the perfectly pressed lace collar that he probably would not have been wearing on the battlefield. "Who are you?" asks a soldier who is, more appropriately, clad in armour. "I was King of Sweden," he murmurs, and promptly kicks the bucket. So far, so good.

Casting

Bert from Sesame Street with a goatee ... John Gilbert. Photograph: Kobal

The horrible stage school brat who gets crowned in the following scene quickly grows up to be Greta Garbo. The nicest things that can be said about her performance are that she is authentically Swedish and can wear the hell out of a doublet and britches. Fortunately, the director doesn't ask her to do much more than stride around in the britches, slap her thigh and deliver the occasional hearty guffaw. Her fictional love interest is the Spanish ambassador, Don Antonio. Garbo had Laurence Olivier fired and replaced with her boyfriend, John Gilbert. He does an acceptable job, even if he does look like Bert from Sesame Street with a goatee.

Sexuality

The council is hassling Christina to marry her cousin, war hero Charles Gustavus. It is true that Christina was deeply annoyed by the constant pressure to marry – not least because she was passionately in love with her lady-in-waiting, Ebba Sparre. Being pre-censorship, the film casts a glance that way. Garbo greets Ebba with a big kiss on the lips, and throws a strop because she wants to marry a man.

Politics

'What of the peasants?' ... Court scene. Photograph: Kobal

Christina ends the war in the face of opposition from her nobles, generals and bishops. "But what of the peasants?" she asks, gesturing to a troupe of slouching yokels with unkempt beards cowering in the corner. The Swedish government did indeed have peasant representation from 1527. They might not have let the really grubby ones into the council chamber, but still: top marks for effort.

Marriage

Don Antonio enters to a chorus of castanets (he's Spanish, see?) and presents Christina with a portrait of his king and her suitor, Philip IV of Spain. Philip has boggly eyes, sticky-out ears and a gigantic chin. "Oh! Does he look like that?" she asks, with another hearty guffaw. Sadly, yes: intensive inbreeding over many generations didn't exactly turn the Spanish royals into hotties. By now, her council is panicking. "You cannot die an old maid!" gasps an accurately-portrayed Axel Oxenstierna. "I have no intention to, Chancellor," she replies. "I shall die a bachelor."

Religion

Photograph: Kobal

Christina's conversion to Catholicism is glossed over. In the film, it's her affair with Antonio that stirs up public anger. She is accused of "Spanish witchcraft", and starts to be followed around by a disgruntled mob brandishing flaming torches in an orderly fashion. Well, this is Sweden.

Abdication

Soon, the protests get tiresome, and Christina decides to hand over the crown to Charles Gustavus. Everyone seems very upset, and one of the peasants from earlier even staggers in to grovel at her feet. In real life, Christina had nearly bankrupted the country, and her government was relieved to be shot of her.

Verdict

'I shall die a bachelor.' Photograph: Kobal

Phoney heterosexual romance aside, this is a surprisingly credible nod towards 17th century Swedish history, and not too bad an effort at capturing the spirit of the real Christina, either. Modern filmmakers, watch and learn.